Here appear occasional jottings of my random musings. Profound or jejune, they reveal the contours of my mental universe, with world history, intellectual history, civilizations, philosophy, religion, society, knowledge, and books as some major themes.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Best American and Canadian Universities in Academic Reputation and Research Performance

The United States has a total of 2,774 4-year degree granting institutions (source).The range in quality of these institutions is astonishingly large.The top 113 (4%) among the 2774, according to Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2011-2012 (source), are listed below.(Even the very best of US liberal arts colleges, such as Williams College, Swarthmore College, and Wellesley College, fail to make the THE list, due to their low research profile. See here for a ranking of US liberal arts colleges.)The bottom 50 US universities ("dropout factories") by graduation rates can be found at the end of this post.____________________________________________

THE (Times Higher Education) List of the top 131 Universities in North America (113 in USA, 18 in Canada)

The number preceding a university's name is its world ranking. Canadian universities are marked with [Canada].

* marks a university not on the ARWU lists below.

1 California Institute of Technology =2 Harvard University =2 Stanford University5 Princeton University 7 Massachusetts Institute of Technology----9 University of Chicago10 University of California Berkeley11 Yale University12 Columbia University13 University of California Los Angeles----14 Johns Hopkins University16 University of Pennsylvania18 University of Michigan 19 University of Toronto [Canada]20 Cornell University ----21 Carnegie Mellon University =22 University of British Columbia [Canada]=22 Duke University 24 Georgia Institute of Technology 25 University of Washington ----26 Northwestern University 27 University of Wisconsin-Madison 28 McGill University [Canada]29 University of Texas at Austin 31 University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign----33 University of California San Diego 35 University of California Santa Barbara 38 University of California Davis41 Washington University in St Louis42 University of Minnesota ----43 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill44 New York University 49 Brown University 51 Pennsylvania State University 54 Boston University ----55 University of Southern California 57 Ohio State University 59 University of Pittsburgh 64 University of Massachusetts 65 McMaster University [Canada]----70 Vanderbilt University 72 Rice University 75 Emory University =77 University of Colorado Boulder =77 Tufts University ----=81 University of Rochester =81 Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 86 University of California Irvine 89 University of Notre Dame 90 Dartmouth College ----93 Case Western Reserve University 94 University of Maryland, College Park 96 Michigan State University 97 University of Arizona 98 Purdue University ----100 University of Alberta [Canada]104 University of Montreal [Canada]110 University of California Santa Cruz 113 University of Utah 114 Stony Brook University ----123 Indiana University 125 University of Florida 127 Arizona State University =135 George Washington University =135 University of Virginia ----138 Georgetown University 141 University of Iowa 143 University of California Riverside 144 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 146 College of William & Mary *----150 Brandeis University 154 Yeshiva University =162 Medical University of South Carolina =162 Wake Forest University 164 Texas A&M University ----167 University of Illinois at Chicago 172 University of Miami 173 Queen's University [Canada]177 University of Victoria [Canada]180 University of Delaware ----184 Iowa State University 185 University of Ottawa [Canada]195 Boston College 197 Georgia Health Sciences University *

________________________________Rank 201-225University at BuffaloUniversity of Cincinnati Colorado School of Mines *University of Georgia University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey ----Northeastern University University of South Carolina Tulane University University of Waterloo [Canada]University of Western Ontario [Canada]_________________________________

Rank 226-250University of Calgary [Canada]Carleton University [Canada]Colorado State University Creighton University *Dalhousie University [Canada]----Drexel University University of Missouri Simon Fraser University [Canada]State University of New York Albany - University at Albany__________________________Rank 251-275

University of Hawaii at Manoa University of Texas at Dallas Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Wayne State University ___________________________Rank 276-300University of Guelph [Canada]University of Kansas University of Kentucky University of Texas at San Antonio York University [Canada]___________________________Rank 301-350

Binghamton University, State University of New York *George Mason University University of Houston Kent State University Lehigh University ----University of Manitoba [Canada]University of Maryland, Baltimore County University of Oklahoma University of South Florida Washington State University _______________________Rank 351-400

Auburn University Clemson University Georgia State University *University of Idaho *Kansas State University ----Michigan Technological University *New Jersey Institute of Technology *Old Dominion University *University of Wyoming __________________________________##########################Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2012 (here) focuses exclusively on the universities' research strength, and publishes the top 500 universities by research strength in the world. Amongst these 500, 150 are in the USA, and 22 are in Canada.The number preceding the university's name is its USA/Canada rank, and the number following its name is its world rank.* marks a university not on the THE list above.ARWU List of the top 150 Universities in the USA

The Center for Measuring University Performance (University of Florida) determines the Top American Research Universities (2010 report, here) by their rank on nine different measures: Total Research, Federal Research, Endowment Assets, Annual Giving, National Academy Members, Faculty Awards, Doctorates Granted, Postdoctoral Appointees, and SAT/ACT range. The tables (below) group research institutions according to how many times they rank in the top 25 on each of these nine measures. The top category includes those universities that rank in the top 25 on all nine indicators. The bottom category includes universities with only one of the nine measures ranked in the top 25.Within these groups, institutions are then sorted by how many times they rank between 26 and 50 on the nine performance variables, with ties listed alphabetically. A similar methodology produces a second set of institutions—those ranked 26 through 50 on the same nine measures.

Below are the Washington Monthly's 2010 rankings of the 4-year public and private not-for-profit colleges in America with the worst graduation rates. To read the story "College Dropout Factories" click here.

* Indicates a public school. † Crichton is now the for-profit Victory University.††, ⊕ These symbols denote post-release edits to chart: Read footnotes.

Institution

Graduation
Rate

1

Southern University at New Orleans (LA)*, ⊕

5%

2

Allen University (SC)††

6%

3

Martin University (IN)

7%

4

Bellevue University (NE)

7%

5

Calumet College of Saint Joseph (IN)

7%

6

Baker College of Auburn Hills (MI)

7%

7

University of the District of Columbia*

8%

8

East-West University (IL)††

9%

9

Haskell Indian Nations University (KS)*

9%

10

Crichton College (TN)†, ††

9%

11

Jarvis Christian College (TX)††

10%

12

Edward Waters College (FL)

11%

13

Oglala Lakota College (SD)*

11%

14

Baker College of Clinton Township (MI)

12%

15

Heritage University (WA)

12%

16

Davenport University (MI)

12%

17

Texas College

12%

18

Texas Southern University*

13%

19

Chicago State University*

13%

20

Purdue University, North Central Campus (IN)*

13%

21

Macon State College (GA)*

13%

22

West Virginia University at Parkersburg*

13%

23

Mountain State University (WV)

13%

24

Saint Paul's College (VA)

13%

25

Nevada State College*

13%

26

University of Houston, Downtown (TX)*

14%

27

Louisiana State University, Shreveport*

15%

28

Utah Valley University*

15%

29

University of Alaska Southeast*

15%

30

Boricua College (NY)

15%

31

University of Great Falls (MT)

16%

32

Bryn Athyn College of the New Church (PA)

16%

33

Coppin State University (MD)*

16%

34

Paul Quinn College (TX)

16%

35

Holy Names University (CA)

17%

36

Huston-Tillotson University (TX)

17%

37

University of Texas at Brownsville*

17%

38

Bacone College (OK)

17%

39

Marygrove College (MI)

17%

40

Rogers State University (OK)*

18%

41

Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus (NY)

18%

42

Miles College (AL)

18%

43

Western New Mexico University*

18%

44

Sul Ross State University (TX)*

18%

45

Northeastern Illinois University*

18%

46

Life University (GA)

19%

47

CUNY New York City College of Technology

19%

48

Harris-Stowe State University (MO)*

19%

49

Stillman College (AL)

19%

50

Mitchell College (CT)

20%

†† The original version of this table listed several schools—Concordia College at Moorhead, Saint Augustine’s College, Nyack College, Visible School—Music and Worship Arts College, and Idaho State University—as dropout factories based upon graduation rate data they reported to a database maintained by the U.S. Department of Education. We have since determined that those schools reported incorrect graduation rate information to the government; had they reported accurate data they would not have been included in the table. We have corrected the rankings accordingly.

⊕Southern University's low graduation rate reflects the effects of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the campus. The average graduation rate of the four cohorts of students who graduated prior to Katrina was 11 percent; at that rate the school would rank 13th on our list.

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Related:* Best British and Irish Universities in Academic Reputation and Research Performance (here)* Best Australian and New Zealand Universities in Academic Reputation and Research Performance (here)